


Far From the Sun (But it Feels So Close)

by imsodonewithlarrystylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 15:37:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/863681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imsodonewithlarrystylinson/pseuds/imsodonewithlarrystylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis always tans beautifully and Harry likes to watch him sleep. Except today, when the tan turns into to a burn and watching him sleep turns into taking care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far From the Sun (But it Feels So Close)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, this is truly inspired by my horrendous sunburn I got from laying out too long a few days ago. I didn't wear anything more than a sports bra and soffe shorts for 3 days because it hurt too bad. But yeah, I got this brilliant fan fiction idea in my head from my stupid mistake, sooo I present to you, Louis' stupid mistake! Enjoy!

"Liam put me down! This isn't fair!" Harry could hear Zayn yelling at Liam for picking him up over his shoulder and attempting to toss him into the water. A faint smile played across his lips as he heard water splashing and Zayn's screams get cut off. He sat up on his elbows and opened his eyes to see Niall and Liam high-fiving as Zayn spluttered and coughed before standing up and punching Liam on the arm. 

The sunshine was warm against Harry's skin and the slight breeze made the temperature just right. He looked over to his left to where Louis was asleep. He was snoring softly, head propped up on top of a towel, earbuds resting in his ears. The boys had spent their day off at the beach and it was approaching 5 o'clock, which meant they would be leaving soon.

Louis' stomach was rising and falling slowly, Harry had only the little bit of his tummy that was left to admire. His skin was beautifully tanned, and getting tanner since they'd been laying out for awhile. His happy trail was thin and dark in the sunlight and Harry just wanted to reach out and touch it.

"Hey H, we're gonna have to leave soon, can you wake up Louis? Zayn is still pissed at me for tossing him in the water." Harry laughed and nodded.

"Li, he can't swim very well, you know that!" Harry reached over to Louis and ran his fingers through his hair softly.

"Hi love, it's time to get up. We're leaving." Louis stirred slowly but didn't open his eyes. Harry knew that it took Louis AT LEAST 25 minutes to wake up and be social again after waking up. He knew today wouldn't be any different, so he put an arm under his boyfriend's head and another under his legs and picked him up bridal style to carry him to the van.

When they got in, Liam and Zayn were still bickering and Niall had begun to ignore them and fiddle with the radio stations instead of involving himself in their trouble.

"Hey, can you guys keep it down? Sleeping Beauty here isn't quite awake yet." the boys all laughed and nodded, keeping themselves quiet for the 45 minute drive back to the hotel.

Once back in their hotel room and awake, Louis immediately had begun to complain. Harry insisted on washing all the salt water out of his hair and had hopped into the shower for a quick rinse, and when he had gotten out, the first thing he heard was Louis whining.

"Harrrrrrry! It hurts!" Harry was puzzled by the tone of Louis' voice. Usually when he was sarcastically whining about something he sounded joyful yet snide, and right now that was the opposite of how he sounded. His voice was strained and vulnerable sounding, which scared Harry, because Louis very seldom let himself show any signs of weakness.

Harry rushed out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and into the area where he'd laid Louis down to wake up. Louis was sitting against the headboard of the bed with his shirt off and his arms wrapped around himself.

"What happened babe? What hurts?" Harry scooped Louis into his arms and kissed his hair, sweaty and sticking to his forehead. Louis cringed and squirmed out of Harry's hold and onto the floor.

"Louis, baby, tell me what's wrong." Harry kneeled on the floor next to where his boyfriend was curled up.

"I think I got sunburned today at the beach, it hurts. It hurts everywhere. Make it stop!" Harry motioned for Louis to stand up as he reached to turn on the light, and sure enough, Louis' skin was at red as the walls of the hotel room.

"Oh sweetie.." Harry frowned and pressed a kiss to Louis' forehead. Louis and Harry had both turned over like a roasting pig a few times that day, but Louis had fallen asleep on his back, and now almost his entire front side was sunburned. The back of his body was red too, but he hadn't fallen asleep with his back to the sun.

Louis' eyes were filling from tears, not from sadness or anger, but from pain. Harry could tell it hurt, his skin was glowing red and was very hot, but he wasn't sure what to do. Harry didn't burn easily, just tanned. Usually Louis was the same way, but not this time.

"Come here baby." Harry sat down on the edge of the bed and opened his arms to the small boy in front of him. Louis shuffled over to him with a frown on his face and tears pooling in his eyes. He leaned onto Harry and rested his head onto the larger boy's shoulder.

Harry rested a hand on Louis' lower back, and though he flinched, he didn't pull away. The skin was hot and it was a very large contrast with Harry's cool skin.

Gemma always burned easily and Harry and his mum had to learn how to treat it so it didn't turn into something worse, so Harry searched his brain for that memory in hopes of being able to help Louis.

Seeing this small, fragile, shaky boy with tears in his eyes and a frown on his lips made Harry's insides churn. He was so used to Louis being loud and cheerful, always the one cracking jokes and laughing at everything, seeing him the exact opposite caused Harry physical pain.

He pulled away and looked Louis in the eyes, carefully swiping a tear off his red cheek. 

"I know it hurts baby. This used to happen to Gem all the time, and we always used aloe and lotion to keep it from hurting. I don't think there;s any in here but I can go over to Niall's room and see if he has any."

Louis nodded and crawled onto the bed, laying on his back, wincing when the rough fabric of the comforter rubbed against the burn. 

Harry kissed Louis' hand and hurried to his bag to throw on some sweatpants before grabbing the keycard and heading toward Niall and Josh's room. He figured Niall would have aloe since he burned so easily when they were out in the sun for a while.

The hallway was quiet and cold. Louis should come sit out here, Harry thought. He knocked on the door to the room quietly, not wanting to disturb them if they'd gone in early for the night. Luckily, Josh opened the door with his toothbrush in hand and a toothpastey grin on his face.

"Hey, is Niall awake?"

"Yeh, he'sh in de oter woom." Harry laughed and nodded, understanding what Josh was babbling through his mouthful of toothpaste. As Josh wandered back into the bathroom, Harry walked further into the room, finding Niall tapping away on his phone, most likely tweeting something to their fans like always.

"Hey, do you have any aloe or lotion? Louis ended up getting really sunburned at the beach today and he's in a lot of pain.."

Niall looked up at him and chuckled, mostly at the fact that Louis had fallen asleep and done this to himself, but also because the he had been the first person Harry looked to for sunburn relief.

He couldn't determine if it was because he was just pale and didn't tan easily, or if it was his Irish skin. Either way, he found himself a deep shade of red on most days they spent at the beach.

Niall tossed his phone onto the bed and got up to rummage through the bag he'd brought to the beach earlier. After pulling out three pairs of sunglasses, some sandals, a pair of beach shorts, and a bottle of sunblock, he finally pulled out a large bottle filled with blue bubbled goo. It didn't look too appealing to the eye, but Niall's sunburns always healed quickly, so he should probably trust him.

"Thanks Ni, I'll bring it back when we're done."

"That's fine, I'm actually not burned today, so bring it back whenever you want." Harry hurried back to Louis' and his own room, sliding the keycard into the door and opening the door. Louis was exactly where he'd been when he left, laying flat on his back with his eyes screwed shut in agony.

"Hi love. I've gotten some aloe from Niall and I'm gonna put it on you really gentle now, alright?" Harry sat down and carded his fingers through Louis' hair, the older boy leaning into his touch. Louis nodded and opened his eyes, looking up at Harry with fondness in his eyes.

How had he gotten so lucky as to get this wonderfully perfect boy in his life? How had he so casually stumbled upon this curly-haired green-eyed angel who cared for him and loved him so urgently? Louis would never know the answers to those questions, of course, but he pondered them in his head quite often.

Harry was two years younger than him, yet a head taller. He had a deeper voice than him, but he was much more sensitive. They were o different in so many ways, but that was what made them work so well. They were two pieces of a puzzle put together for a reason.

They completed each other.

Of course it sounded cliché and cheesy, but there was so much truth in it that neither of the boys could find it in their hearts to care. Louis found himself counting his blessings in moments like this; when he was weak and Harry would be his rock. When he was vulnerable and Harry was his savior. When he needed to be taken care of and Harry was always there to nurse him back to health.

Louis didn't know how long he had zoned out for; lost in thought and wrapped in the thought of HarryHarryHarry; but when he came back to reality, Harry was waving a hand in front of him, calling his name.

"Hello? Earth to Louis?"

"Sorry babe, zoned out for a bit." Harry chuckled and squeezed some of the blue goop into his palm. Louis shuddered when Harry brought his hand in contact with his burning skin; the cold liquid shocking him. Harry must've seen Louis' eyes fly shut and fists clench, because he leaned down and kissed his forehead before continuing.

"Shhh baby, I know it's cold and you're sensitive right now, but it'll help, I promise." Harry had a way with words. Actually, both boys were the only ones who could calm each other down anymore.

If Harry was freaking out backstage over a note he'd screwed up, Louis was there, one hand gently tugging his curls, the other stroking his back as he whispered sweet praises into his ear.

If Louis was torturing himself with Twitter hate or getting down on himself, there was no doubt that Harry would be at his side, kissing his tears away, rubbing circles into his sides and thighs to calm his erratic breathing back to normal.

At first, the other boys had felt bad that they couldn't help them themselves, but as time went on, they found that Louis was the only one Harry needed to see when he was upset and vice versa.

They were each other's lifelines; their safety net when they leaped off the bridge, their parachute when they jumped from the plane. They were always there for each other, and that was all that mattered.

Harry moved down to Louis' thighs which were covered by the shorts he'd thrown on when they got back to the hotel.

"Lou, I'm gonna need you to take these off so I can get aloe on your thighs." Usually Louis would've taken this sexually, or at least cracked a joke of some sort, but right now, he was in too much discomfort and exhaustion to do that. He easily obliged, carefully bending to shimmy his shorts down to his ankles, where he kicked them off into a corner of the room.

Harry spread more of the blue gel-like substance onto his hands, a feeling all too familiar to him, and rubbed it carefully onto Louis' red thighs. Where the skin was usually tanned and smooth, marked only by Harry's mouth leaving dark marks, was now red and coarse. The sun had burned and dried out his skin, and Harry could only imagine how badly this was hurting his poor angel.

Louis kept flinching and cringing when Harry came to a sensitive spot where he had been badly burned, like his shoulders and calves, so Harry would stop to lean up and kiss him and squeeze his hand until he calmed down again. 

"Feel better?" Harry asked when he finished, after setting the bottle onto the nightstand next to their phones and the alarm clock. After wiping his hands clean of any excess aloe, he sat down on the bed next to Louis. He nodded his head and scampered up to him, sitting between his legs and leaning against his chest.

Louis was more dominant in bed, but he was so much more petite and small that whenever it came to cuddling, he got squeezed into the place of the small spoon. Not that he minded; he loved having Harry wrap his arms around him and tangle their legs together.

He loved that when he was the small spoon he had the power to turn their cuddling session into so much more so easily. With just a twist of his hips and a few pushes backward, he had Harry keening and pressing against Louis' bum.

But now, when he was in so much pain, all he wanted to do was fall asleep in Harry's arms. The room was so cold, but the sunburn was making Louis' skin hot, so even though on the outside, he felt hot, he was freezing.

"Harry, I'm cold. But I'm hot." Harry reached a hand up to Louis' forehead and felt his hot skin.

"I'm sorry baby, I'm not sure what we can do about that. How about we get a blanket, but I can wet a towel and put it on your forehead, does that sound okay?" Louis smiled and nodded, letting Harry get up off the bed to collect everything.

He switched the TV on and began browsing through the channels; flipping through all of the junk that American television played as he watched Harry wet a washcloth in the bathroom sink, wring it out, and fold it neatly before bringing it back into the room and placing it gently on Louis' forehead.

Harry also grabbed Louis' blue blanket from his bag on the chair and brought it over to him, since he knew how scratchy hotel comforters could be. (They'd stayed in enough hotels to know that by now.)

He fluffed up the pillows and laid down, motioning for Louis to lay with him, and covered them both with the blanket.

"This tv has nothing but shit." Louis said bluntly, tossing the remote to the floor, causing the batteries to come flying out. Harry only laughed and wrapped his arms around him tighter.

"I know, love. We can never find anything good on American television unless we're lucky to find reruns of Friends or a movie." Louis sighed deeply and let his head loll to the side, resting in the crook of Harry's arm.

"I'm tired. And burned." Louis said with a giggle. Harry smiled at that, because he hadn't heard him laugh in much too long today, and he was glad his Louis was coming back.

"I know, sweets. We'll put more lotion on tomorrow. You have to drink lots of water to keep you hydrated, because sunburn dries your skin out."

"Why do you know all of this?"

"Because I'm a genius." Louis elbowed him before he laughed at his own cheesy joke.

"I already told you it's because Gemma got burned easily and mum and I always had to help her." he turned to flip the light switch off, and began to play with Louis' hair like he always did before bed.

Louis' breathing became longer and softer, and Harry knew he had fallen asleep. Too much sun exhausts a person, and Harry can't blame him.

He rarely fell asleep after Louis did, because they so often just fucked and fell right asleep afterward. On the rare occasions when it did happen, Harry liked to cherish it. He loved the rhythmic rise and fall of Louis' chest and the way his eyelashes fluttered.

He loved the way he curled his small hands into whatever shirt Harry was wearing. He loved that Louis would cling to Harry like a baby koala in his sleep, then in the morning he would push Harry off of him in a grumpy protest.

Of course Harry always found Louis perfectly beautiful, but when he was asleep he was simply breathtaking. He thanked God every night for bringing this wonderful boy into his life, and even though Harry had no clue that Louis often did the same, he would hope and wish every night that Louis would never ever leave him.

The thought of a life without Louis made Harry feel physically ill. It was like having a sundae without whipped cream, or showering without singing. It was like buying a jelly filled donut that turned out to be empty. It was a thought Harry didn't like to ponder, so he shoved it in the back of his mind where it stayed.

Because even though he didn't always believe it, Louis couldn't live without Harry either. And that was just how they worked.


End file.
